Yemen’s Houthi militants confirmed that a missile shot down by Western coalition forces over the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday was targeting a US-flagged AP Moller-Maersk ship.
The group also claimed to have launched two more operations against MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company vessels nearby.
TradeWinds reported earlier on Wednesday about the US military identifying the 2,500-teu Maersk Yorktown (built 2004) as the likely target of an anti-ship ballistic missile successfully intercepted by the warship USS Laboon without causing any impact or damage.
In a televised statement late on Wednesday, the Houthis’ military spokesman, Yahya Saree, confirmed that the Maersk Yorktown, part of the Danish shipping giant’s US-flag Maersk Line Ltd fleet, was the target.
On top of that, Saree said his group sought to strike another pair of vessels in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday. He named the 4,056-teu MSC Gina (built 1999) and the “MSC Darwin”, which is most likely the 6,078-teu MSC Darwin VI (built 1999).
Saree did not make any statements that would suggest these ships were actually hit.
Unlike the case of the Maersk Yorktown, no other maritime intelligence or military source has issued any alerts so far that would suggest that either the MSC Gina or the MSC Darwin VI was targeted. MSC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is not the first time the Houthis have claimed to have attacked the MSC Gina, however.
Saree identified the panamax container ship as a target again on Sunday. Its location in the Arabian Sea at the time sparked fears that the rebel group could act on previous threats to hit ships sailing a very wide distance off the Yemeni coast.
However, no independent source has corroborated the Houthis’ claimed operations on Sunday against the MSC Gina and the 24,300-dwt multipurpose vessel MSC Grace F (built 1991), which was sailing even further off Yemen in the Indian Ocean.
The militia, which controls large swathes of Yemen, has attacked more than 80 commercial ships sailing off its coast since mid-November, through drones, missiles, attempted boardings and one hijacking.
According to the latest list of incidents published by the European Union forces on Wednesday, 12 of these vessels received a direct hit. The latest such strike occurred on 23 March against the Chinese-owned, 115,500-dwt tanker Huang Pu (built 2009).
As a result of these attacks, one ship sank and three seafarers and 10 Houthi fighters were killed. Western air force strikes on Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen have caused an unknown number of victims.
The Houthis’ official policy is to target only ships associated with Israel, the US and the UK to force a stop to the war against the Palestinian Hamas group in Gaza.
Their attacks, however, have become indiscriminate over time — whether by accident or design.
As the Houthis are backed by Iran, the US has sanctioned Iranian tankers for helping to finance the Yemeni group labelled by Washington as a terrorist organisation.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday that the Houthis have become increasingly autonomous from Tehran and described the relation between the two players as one of “convenience”.
